On a quiet summer night in July 2007, the peaceful town of Cheshire, Connecticut, became the scene of one of the most horrific crimes in American history. What began as a chance encounter at a supermarket escalated into a seven-hour nightmare that claimed three innocent lives and exposed devastating failures in the criminal justice system.
The Petite family represented the American dream. Dr. William Petite Jr.
was a respected endocrinologist who had practiced in Plainville, Connecticut, since 1989. Born in Southampton, Connecticut, William grew up in a family deeply involved in their community. After graduating from Dartmouth College, he attended the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, where his life would change forever.
In 1985, while working as a third-year medical student at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, he met Jennifer Hawk, a new oncology nurse at the same hospital. Their connection was immediate, and they married on April 13, 1985. Jennifer brought warmth and dedication to everything she did.
She became the co-director of the health center at Cheshire Academy, a private boarding school where she was beloved by students and staff. Despite being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, Jennifer never let her condition define her. Instead, she turned it into a cause that would inspire her entire family.
The Petites had two daughters who were the pride of their lives. Haley Elizabeth, 17, had just graduated from the prestigious Miss Porter School in Farmington, where she excelled in everything she touched. She ran varsity cross country, played basketball and crew, maintained a spot on the high honor roll, and was elected athletic association head.
She had been accepted to Dartmouth College, her father’s alma mater, where she planned to study medicine.
Haley’s greatest passion was fighting multiple sclerosis in honor of her mother. She captained a walk MS team called Haley’s Hope and won a school award for exceptional community service. Eleven-year-old Michaela Rose was the family’s creative spirit.
She attended Chase Collegiate School and loved cooking, often preparing elaborate meals for her family. On July 22, 2007, she went shopping with her mother to buy ingredients for a special dinner she planned to cook that evening.
The family’s home on Sorghum Mill Road in Cheshire was a place of warmth, achievement, and hope. But unknown to them, they had been noticed by two men who would destroy everything they had built.
Joshua Komisarjevsky was 26 years old with a history of burglary convictions and drug abuse. Born on August 10, 1980, he had been adopted into a family with deep ties to the arts. His grandfather was the renowned theater director Theodore Komisarjevsky.
But Joshua’s life had taken a dark turn. He had spent years in and out of the criminal justice system, and by July 2007, he was on parole.
Steven Hayes, 44, had an even longer criminal record dating back to a burglary conviction in 1981. Born on May 30, 1963, Hayes had spent much of his adult life cycling through the prison system. The two men had met through a halfway house drug treatment program.
Both were supposed to be under supervision, monitored by the parole system designed to protect the public. But on July 22, 2007, they were free to walk the streets of Cheshire, planning their next crime.
Sunday evening seemed like any other summer day. Jennifer took 11-year-old Michaela to a local supermarket. Michaela was excited about the special dinner she planned to cook for her family.
As they shopped for ingredients, they had no idea they were being watched. Komisarjevsky spotted them in the store. Later testimony revealed that he followed Jennifer and Michaela from the supermarket back to their home.
He observed the family, their routine, their beautiful home. He saw targets.
That evening, Komisarjevsky contacted Hayes. At 7:45 p. m.
, Hayes sent a chilling text message: “I’m chomping at the bit to get started.” Over the next hour and a half, the two men exchanged texts that prosecutors would later use as evidence of premeditation. Police later reported that the pair may have even gone shopping for implements, an air rifle, and rope after seeing the girls at the supermarket.
They were methodically preparing for a home invasion.
The Petite family went to sleep that night with no idea that two violent criminals had marked them for destruction.
The exact timing of the initial entry remains somewhat disputed. A Connecticut Supreme Court summary places the entry at around 2:00 a. m.
on Monday, July 23. Other police reports describe the break-in as occurring shortly after 3:00 a. m.
What is clear is that Hayes and Komisarjevsky entered the Petite home in the early morning darkness.
Dr. William Petite was sleeping on a couch on the first floor, having dozed off after watching television. He was suddenly awakened by a devastating blow to his head with a baseball bat they had found in the home.
The attack was brutal and immediate. William was dragged to the basement, disoriented and bleeding. The intruders bound him with rope and pillowcases.
They beat him repeatedly. Later medical evidence would document severe injuries, head trauma, facial fractures, and extensive bruising. But somehow William remained conscious, trapped in his own basement while the nightmare unfolded upstairs.
Jennifer and the two girls were herded into their bedrooms and tied to their beds. The intruders told them this was just a robbery, that if everyone cooperated, no one would be hurt. It was a lie that would be repeated throughout the ordeal.
For approximately six to seven hours, the Petite family endured unimaginable terror. The intruders ransacked the house, searching for valuables, credit cards, and bank information. All the while, they kept the family separated, bound, and terrified.
At some point during this period, Hayes left the house and went to a nearby gas station. Surveillance video captured him purchasing $10 worth of gasoline in containers taken from the Petite garage. This wasn’t for a getaway vehicle.
It was for something far more horrific.
As morning broke on July 23, the situation escalated into its most critical phase. The intruders had decided to force Jennifer to go to the bank and withdraw money. It was around 9:00 a.
m. when Hayes drove Jennifer to the Bank of America in Cheshire, holding her hostage in her own vehicle. Jennifer knew she was in grave danger.
She knew her family was being held in the home, but she also saw an opportunity to get help.
When she entered the bank, she managed to communicate to bank personnel that something was desperately wrong. The bank manager immediately recognized the danger. At 9:21 a.
m. , the bank manager called 911. He tracked Jennifer’s movements in real time, updating the dispatcher as she completed the forced withdrawal.
At 9:26 a. m. , a broadcast went out to all Cheshire police units with vehicle information and the license plate number.
Police were dispatched toward both the bank area and the Petite residence.
But for the family trapped inside the house, time was running out.
When Hayes returned to the house with Jennifer and the withdrawn money, the situation inside had already deteriorated beyond imagination. While Hayes had been at the bank, Komisarjevsky had assaulted Michaela. He had taken explicit photographs with his cell phone.
Jennifer was also assaulted. The medical examiner would later confirm that both mother and youngest daughter had been victimized in the most horrific ways possible.
The intruders had never intended to simply rob the family and leave. They had planned something far more permanent. The men knew police were likely coming.
The bank manager’s call had started a countdown they couldn’t stop. Rather than flee and abandon their victims alive, Hayes and Komisarjevsky made a decision that would seal their fate as two of the most hated criminals in Connecticut history.
They doused the house with the gasoline Hayes had purchased. They poured it around the beds where Haley and Michaela lay tied and helpless. Then they set the house on fire.
Jennifer Hawk Petite, 48, didn’t die in the flames. She was strangled to death, a final act of violence before the fire could consume her. Her daughters, 17-year-old Haley and 11-year-old Michaela, died from smoke inhalation as the flames spread rapidly through the home.
They were conscious when the fire started. They knew they were going to die.
In the basement, Dr. William Petite was still bound but conscious. The smell of smoke filtered down to him.
Summoning strength he didn’t know he had despite his severe injuries, William managed to free himself from his restraints. He crawled to a basement window, kicked it open, and escaped to a neighbor’s yard. He collapsed on their porch, bloody and barely conscious, but alive.
Cheshire police arrived at the Petite residence to a scene of chaos. The house was visibly burning. Just as they arrived, they saw two men exit the house and get into a vehicle in the driveway.
These were Hayes and Komisarjevsky attempting to flee. The suspects started the vehicle and began to back out. Police moved to block their exit.
Rather than surrender, the suspects rammed their vehicle into multiple police cruisers. The collisions disabled their vehicle. They were trapped.
At gunpoint, both Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky were taken into custody. Firefighters rushed to battle the blaze consuming the Petite home. When they finally suppressed the fire and could safely enter, they discovered what everyone had feared.
Three bodies were found inside. Jennifer, Haley, and Michaela had all perished. The only survivor was Dr.
William Petite, who had been transported to the hospital with life-threatening injuries.
The investigation that followed built an overwhelming case against both perpetrators. Text messages between Hayes and Komisarjevsky from the night before the crime showed clear premeditation. The cell phone belonging to Komisarjevsky contained photographs that were almost too disturbing to describe.
Digital images showed the victims bound and included explicit photos of the assault of Michaela. Bank surveillance video showed Hayes with Jennifer during the forced withdrawal. Gas station surveillance showed Hayes purchasing the gasoline shortly before the arson.
The timeline was airtight.
Medical examiner Wayne Carver provided testimony about the causes of death. Jennifer had been strangled. Haley and Michaela had died from smoke inhalation.
Their bodies were found in their burned beds where they had been tied. Perhaps most damning, laboratory officials testified that blood samples showed neither Hayes nor Komisarjevsky had alcohol or illegal drugs in their systems. There was no intoxication defense.
They had been completely aware of their actions.
On Tuesday, July 24, 2007, just one day after the murders, both suspects were arraigned in Meriden Superior Court. The state announced charges including kidnapping, burglary, arson, robbery, larceny, and assault. Each was held on $15 million bond.
By Thursday, July 26, prosecutors announced they would seek the death penalty. Both men were formally charged with six capital felony counts.
Steven Hayes went to trial first. His trial began on September 13, 2010. On October 5, 2010, the jury found him guilty on all counts.
On November 8, 2010, the jury recommended the death penalty. On December 2, 2010, Judge John Blue formally sentenced Hayes to death.
Joshua Komisarjevsky’s trial began on September 19, 2011. Jurors heard his recorded confession and saw the text messages and medical examiner testimony about evidence of Michaela’s assault. His defense team presented evidence of the abuse Komisarjevsky had suffered, hoping for mitigation in sentencing.
The jury was unmoved. Komisarjevsky was also found guilty and sentenced to death.
Both men would sit on Connecticut’s death row, their appeals dragging through the courts while Dr. William Petite tried to rebuild a shattered life.
The Petite murders became a watershed moment for Connecticut. On July 28, 2007, just five days after the murders, thousands attended a memorial service where Dr. William Petite eulogized his family.
In the months that followed, the outpouring of support was extraordinary. The Petite Family Foundation was established to continue the charitable work, especially the MS advocacy that had meant so much to the family.
Then came an unexpected turn. On April 25, 2012, Connecticut enacted legislation that prospectively repealed the death penalty for crimes committed on or after that date. The new law didn’t affect Hayes and Komisarjevsky, whose crimes had occurred in 2007.
They remained on death row.
But in 2015, the Connecticut Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling in a case called State v. Santiago. The court held that executing prisoners for crimes committed before the 2012 repeal would constitute cruel and unusual punishment under the Connecticut State Constitution.
All death sentences were to be converted to life imprisonment without the possibility of release.
In June 2016, Steven Hayes was resentenced by Judge John Blue to six consecutive life terms without the possibility of release, plus an additional 106 years on related charges. Judge Blue’s words at resentencing were final and absolute: “With the gravity of these crimes and the depravity of your character, nothing more needs to be said.”
On July 26, 2016, Joshua Komisarjevsky received the same sentence: six consecutive life terms without the possibility of release. Both men will die in prison. There will be no parole hearings, no chances for release, no possibility of freedom.
The Cheshire home invasion stands as one of the most brutal crimes in American history. It exposed failures in the parole system, sparked debates about the death penalty, and left a community forever scarred. Dr.
William Petite survived physically, but he lost everything that mattered most. In the years following the tragedy, he has shown remarkable resilience. He has since remarried and had children, working tirelessly to honor his first family’s memory through continued charitable work.
The Petite Family Foundation continues to support causes that were dear to Jennifer, Haley, and Michaela, particularly in the areas of education and multiple sclerosis research. William has become a powerful advocate for victims’ rights and criminal justice reform. He has testified before legislative committees and worked with lawmakers to strengthen parole supervision and improve the criminal justice system’s ability to protect the public.
His advocacy helped shape Connecticut’s response to violent crime, including stricter parole guidelines and enhanced monitoring of repeat offenders.
The parole board faced intense scrutiny. Questions arose about risk assessment, supervision protocols, and whether warning signs had been missed or ignored. The case became a catalyst for reform, with new legislation passed to tighten parole requirements and increase supervision of high-risk offenders.
The death penalty debate that followed the Connecticut Supreme Court’s 2015 ruling was equally contentious. Many victims’ rights advocates, including Dr. Petite himself, believed that Hayes and Komisarjevsky deserved execution.
Others saw the court’s decision as a principled stand against capital punishment. The debate continues to this day, with the Petite case serving as the primary example used by both sides.
Jennifer, Haley, and Michaela Petite were extraordinary people whose lives were stolen by two men who chose violence, cruelty, and murder. Jennifer was more than a nurse and a mother. She was a caregiver who touched countless lives at Cheshire Academy.
Haley was on the cusp of greatness. Her acceptance to Dartmouth, her athletic achievements, and her leadership roles all pointed to a young woman who would have made significant contributions to society. Michaela at just 11 years old had already shown the creativity and warmth that would have defined her life.
They deserve to grow old, to achieve their dreams, to make their mark on the world. Instead, they became symbols, reminders that evil exists, that vigilance matters, and that justice, though sometimes imperfect, must always strive to protect the innocent.